Art Fein, an influential figure in Los Angeles’s music community and creator of the acclaimed public access series Art Fein’s Poker Party, passed away on July 30 at age 79. He succumbed to heart failure while recovering from hip surgery.

Launched in 1984 under the title Lil Art’s Poker Party and later renamed, the show ran for 24 years, hosting guests such as Brian Wilson, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Arthur Lee’s Love, Dwight Yoakam, Etta James, Joe Strummer, Carol Kaye and many more.

Each half-hour episode blended engaging conversation with live performances. A treasure trove of these broadcasts is archived on Fein’s YouTube channel.

“I’m devastated to learn of Art Fein’s passing,” bassist Toni Pambianco wrote on X. “He was the Ed Sullivan of public access TV. We’ll miss him dearly.”

Fein was a tireless champion of roots music, showcasing artists like zydeco legend Clifton Chenier, swamp soul icon Jerry “Swamp Dogg” Williams and rockabilly trailblazer Ray Campi & the Rockabilly Rebels long before the Recording Academy created dedicated roots categories in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

“He believed in giving airtime to artists who weren’t yet household names,” rocker Rosie Flores told biographer Randy Lewis. “Art saw potential where others didn’t.”

Taking advantage of a 1984 FCC rule requiring public-access channels in cable franchise agreements, Fein taped primarily in Los Angeles with occasional broadcasts in Austin, New York and Seattle. It was at a Santa Monica taping that he met his wife, Jennifer, a Century Cable employee.

Fein’s brief stints in record promotion and as music editor at Variety proved unsatisfying. His true calling emerged when he launched his own program, attracting a loyal following and earning a 1992 feature in the Los Angeles Times marking the show’s 400th episode.

“If this show is a springboard, I’ll be thrilled,” Fein told the Times. “But even if it isn’t, I’m having the time of my life.”

Beyond television, Fein organized annual Elvis Presley birthday bashes for over four decades and New Year’s Eve music galas from 1978 to 1984, cementing his role as a community catalyst.

Born Arthur David Fein on June 17, 1946, and adopted by Sam and Lillian Fein, he discovered rock & roll at age ten after seeing Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show, an experience he described in his 2022 memoir Rock’s in My Head as a life-altering “lightning bolt.”

“If Elvis was God,” Fein wrote, “then Jerry Lee Lewis was the Prince of Darkness,” reflecting his deep admiration for early rock icons.

After graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder with a journalism degree, Fein moved to California in 1971. Short tenures at Capitol, Elektra/Asylum and Casablanca led him to independent work managing acts such as The Blasters and The Cramps, producing the compilation Art Fein Presents: The Best of L.A. Rockabilly, and consulting on films like Roadhouse 66 and Tour of Duty.

Fein authored three books: The L.A. Musical History Tour: A Guide to the Rock and Roll Landmarks of Los Angeles (1991; 2nd ed. 1998), The Greatest Rock & Roll Stories (1997) and his memoir Rock’s in My Head (2022). His blog, Another Fein Mess, chronicled music stories from 1998 to 2017 on sofein.com.

Fein maintained a lifelong, if complicated, friendship with Phil Spector, writing to him 15 times during Spector’s 2009–2021 incarceration only to receive no reply. “By the time he died on January 16, 2021, I had completed my mourning,” Fein later reflected.

Music journalist Chris Morris summarized Fein’s multifaceted career: “Art served rock & roll as scribe, promoter, manager, TV host, and raconteur—knowing the famous, the infamous, and the extraordinary, and living to tell the tale.”

He is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and their daughter, Jessie.